Dr
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735) was the political satirist who
created the character of
John Bull and was immortalised by his friendship with Pope, Swift and
Gay. For details of
his genealogy click
here. For
details of his career click
here.

There are portraits described as being of Dr John Arbuthnot
which seems more probably
to be of William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (1705-93). In
setting out the facts
on this site, it may be better to present the portraits in order (1 -
9) Dr John
Arbuthnot, (10) the portrait in question and (11 - 16) the Earl of
Mansfield.

Uncontroversial
representations of Dr John Arbuthnot include:

1.
William Robinson's portrait which is in the Scottish National Portrait
Gallery. This is reproduced in Beattie's "John
Arbuthnot". This William Robinson is not the
Robinson (1799-1839) who was a pupil of Sir Thomas Lawrence.

2.
The portrait which was then in the possession of Mr William
Arbuthnot-Leslie of Warthill, Aberdeenshire, also shown in Mrs
P.S.-M.Arbuthnot's "Memories of the Arbuthnots of
Kincardineshire and Aberdeenshire" (the copyright to which
book is owned by Sir
William Arbuthnot, Bt). This portrait is now at
Lickley Head, seat of Mr Sebastian Arbuthnot-Leslie.

3.
The portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, once owned by Pope, now in the
Hunterian Museum Glasgow. Said to have been Kneller's last
work. An engraving "from a scarce print" was published in Icon.
Scottica, 1798. J Douglas Stewart makes no
reference to any portrait of Arbuthnot in his catalogue raisonne, "Sir
Godfrey Kneller and the English Baroque Portrait", Oxford,
193.

7. There was a small and
comparatively modern engraving of "John Arburhnot, M.D." (sic)
by T. Prescott. Location unknown.

8. There was an engraving
in an oval by A. Bell. Location unknown.

9. Noble in his Continuation
of Granger, mentions a small engraving by Vertue

10. The image below is source: Photofest
(not known beyond that)

11.
This portrait is now thought to be by J Vanloo c. 1738 (formerly
thought to be by Charles Jervas, c.1715) and is owned by the Royal
College of Physicians. Inscribed u.r. "John Arbuthnot,
M.D.". A copy is owned by Sir William
Arbuthnot, Bt, inscribed u.l., "John Arbuthnot M.D." which
may once have been at Warthill and subsequently sold. However
a further copy is listed in R. Gibson's Catalogue of
pictures in the Collection of the Earl of Clarendon, 1977,
(51), (96). Gibson says "Despite its inscription, our
portrait proves to represent Mansfield. It is too young a man, too late
to represent Arbuthnot, and is a version of the earlier portrait by
Vanloo, with the same face but in a wig, engraved by Basire as painted
in 1732. A fine Kit-cat size version still in Lord
Clarendon's collection belonged to his ancestor, the sitter's friend,
Henry Cornbury and Baron Hyde, 1710-1753, who was also painted by
Vanloo. It is listed in his catalogue of 1750: Lord
Hyde's Dressing Room ... MR SOLICITOR-GENERAL MURRAY."
At any rate, this portrait is reproduced as Arbuthnot, rather than
Mansfield in G.A.Aitken's "Life & Works of Arbuthnot"
(Oxford University Press).

Other portraits of Judge William Murray,
1st Earl of Mansfield (1705-1792)
include: